Energy Costs

20th April 2017

“Muscular” action will be taken by the government against energy firms’ “damaging” price rises, a minister has said, but the timing remains unclear. Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark said that, owing to the imminent election, the date for this “decisive” move was being reviewed. He claimed that firms “milked” loyal customers through rising default gas and electricity tariffs. Energy UK said government intervention would be bad for customers. Five of the big six suppliers have announced price rises this year.

Greg Clark, the UK business secretary, has promised “muscular” action on household energy bills “very shortly” but failed to clarify whether the government would act against the utility companies before the general election on June 8.

The government has given its clearest warning yet that it is preparing to cap energy prices, vowing to take “very decisive” action to address the “flagrant mistreatment” of millions of households on expensive tariffs. Shares in both Centrica and SSE, the biggest household energy suppliers, fell by more than 1.5 per cent yesterday after Greg Clark, the business secretary, said that customers on standard tariffs were exploited, abused and milked. The remaining four members of the Big Six energy businesses are EDF Energy, Npower, Eon and Scottish Power. Ministers were finalising “muscular and strong” proposals to intervene in the market, which they planned to publish very shortly, Mr Clark told MPs on the business select committee, indicating that they could do so before the election.

Clients have included Greenpeace, Nuclear Free Local Authorities, WWF Scotland and the UK Government’s Committee on Radioactive Waste Management.

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